


Stand Ten Feet Away From Me

by Fruity446



Series: Make Me Yours Again [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst, Champ is still a dick, Divorce, Don't hate Waverly either, F/F, F/M, Michelle Earp is a bad mother, Morons, Mutual Pining, Nicole still loves Waverly and Waverly loves her too, Pain, Tucker is a creep, Useless Lesbians, Ward Earp is a crap father, don't hate me please, inspired by a song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 17:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30059328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fruity446/pseuds/Fruity446
Summary: Five years later, Nicole and Waverly haven't spoken to one another properly. But when Waverly decides to be honest about why she filed for a divorce, heartbreak ensues.
Relationships: Hardy Champ & Waverly Earp, Tucker Gardner/Waverly Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Series: Make Me Yours Again [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2210607
Comments: 14
Kudos: 37





	Stand Ten Feet Away From Me

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hate me or Waverly please. We're not bad people, at least Waverly isn't. I'm just a bitch.

Five years. It had been five years since Nicole had divorced Waverly Earp, four years of raising her beloved children and working away her problems. Five years of crossing to the opposite side of the street every time she caught a glimpse of ex-wife, Waverly Earp, simply so she could avoid a conversation with the other woman. Five years of pure loneliness that couldn’t be healed by her best friend Wynonna’s puns or Xavier Dolls’ words of kindness or Doc’s reassurances that she would be okay in the future. Not even Jeremy’s updates about Waverly’s life helped, they only proved to make her feel sick. Both physically and emotionally. 

William was thirteen by now and he was by far one of the smartest kids in his year, a fact Nicole was incredibly proud of. Every so often she would be forced to exchange pleasantries with Waverly whenever she would arrive to pick up the children for the weekend, a wave or a forced smile as the short brunette would lean against her Jeep, eyes downcast and looking thoroughly awkward. 

Nicole sighed. She hadn’t been with anyone since, not even sexually. It was too painful and made her feel guilty, almost like she was cheating on the woman she loved even though she knew that they were no longer together. She had signed the papers, their collapse printed in ink, her biggest regret. Or maybe her biggest regret was not saving Waverly in the first place. She wasn’t sure why she continued to care anymore. 

Sunlight streamed through the windows of the guest room, illuminating the bedcovers in a pale grey light that just screamed miserable, sucking the life out of anything that dared to move. Calamity Jane rested heavily on her owner’s stomach, a welcome distraction from the outside world. But distractions were only temporary. 

Oh, how lovely it was to live. 

  
  
  


Waverly startled as the toast popped out of the toaster, scaring her out of her own head. She had been scrolling through social media ever since she woke up two hours ago at four in the morning but hadn’t realised that her phone had lost its battery. Exhaling, she grabbed the slices of toast from the rickety toaster that was one of her childhood memoirs and began to spread butter and jam over the toast, before moving over to the stove to begin frying some eggs. 

The children were upstairs in their beds sleeping, no noise shattering the tension in the kitchen that could break like a china teapot at any second. Waverly was relieved, really. The last thing she wanted was to have to engage in any conversations today. Today was the worst day of her life. Her sixth year divorce anniversary. 

Technically, it was unfair for her to be so down in the dumps about this day. She had suggested the divorce in the first place, and just when she gave Nicole hope that maybe things were going to be alright, she twisted the knife in further, a killing blow. Painful and heartless, just as Daddy would’ve done. How proud he would be. 

Things hadn’t gotten better. Not by a long shot. She had been on countless dates since her divorce but none of them felt right. She sometimes wondered if she was too old to be going on dates, now that she was an aunt to her lovely niece, a mother to four children and a divorced woman who had way too much emotional baggage. But Wynonna said that she had every right to move on and be happy, even if Nicole didn’t seem to have moved on at all. 

That somehow made it worse. The guilt, knowing that she was the reason the other woman was up late at night working and was unable to find love again, or even a spark of attraction. It made her squirm and wiggle inside of her own skin, desperately wanting to move on to a new vessel in hopes that she could hide away from prying eyes and have a simpler life. 

Despite the failed dates, she did have a stable relationship with a woman bartending at Shorty’s named Rosita Bustillos. Sadly, they had broken up when Rosita said that she couldn’t be with someone who was obviously still in love with another woman. That was two years ago. Since then, she’d gotten back together with Champ Hardy, much to her family’s chagrin and his satisfaction. 

But she knew their relationship wasn’t a healthy one. He hadn’t matured in fifteen years, in fact, he was even more childish and unnecessarily possessive of her than before. He treated the kids as his own children ―a fact that pissed Waverly off despite how much she reminded him that they were her and Nicole’s children―and he even had the nerve to ask if they could begin having children together. It was probably just an excuse for him to try and get laid even more. She refused. 

Sometimes, she would burst into tears randomly and he would try and calm her down with kisses or by trying to get her to have sex. She had already ended things with him twice, but she needed the distraction, something he was more than welcome to provide. So she continued to date Champ, using their relationship and their sex life as a numbing agent of sorts. Just so she could forget, one day at a time. 

Champ came thundering down the homestead’s stairs, dressed in only a pair of boxers and long, knee high navy socks. He stretched his arms above his head, giving her one of his two wide smiles as he strutted towards her, pressing himself into her chest as he reached around to cage her against the counter. 

“Good morning,” he mumbled against her neck, biting the flesh. He began moving his hips against hers, smirking. “Last night was great, babe. I just wish you’d let me get you pregnant. We should have more kids together, the others would love it.” 

“They’re not your kids,” she protested weakly. The eggs sizzled in their saucepan at the stove and she tried to shove him off, not feeling in the mood and wanting to save her breakfast before the kitchen caught fire. “Champ, I need to get the eggs. They’ll burn, and we shouldn’t do that in here. My kids are upstairs and I’m not in the mood.” 

Champ rolled his eyes, but moved away. “Fine, you prude. You were all over me last night, I couldn’t get you off my cock. Pretty sure you weren’t thinking about our kids then or that lesbian cop of yours. You almost fooled me into thinking you’d never come back,” he said, throwing his head back with a laugh. 

Waverly’s heart sank. Nicole. Nicole with her gorgeous smile and dimples, her vanilla dipped doughnut scent, her strong arms and skilled fingers that were the only things capable of bringing the brunette pleasure along with her tongue. Nicole was always gentle, always willing to explore any and all of Waverly’s fantasies. Her lovely wife, who had been there through the birth of every single child of theirs, and their adoption of Richard when he was sixteen and they had just got engaged after two years of dating. 

Nicole. 

“Would just leave her alone!” She snapped, causing Champ to look up in shock. She had never snapped at him, even if she was incredibly frustrated. He froze with a muffin halfway to his mouth, crumbs falling on the floor. “I don’t get why you’re constantly bringing her up all of the time! We’re over okay, you don’t have to rub it in my face all of the time Champ! It sucks, but I don’t expect you to understand that because you’ve never been divorced or lost someone you love because you’re incapable of love!” 

“Excuse me?” Champ asked, stuffing the remainder of the muffin in his mouth. “I love you, Waverly. I love our children. I don’t get why you’re so sensitive all the time and why you’re always crying. Can’t you just shut your brain off for one second so that we can enjoy ourselves? God, it’s so difficult to cum when you’re just bawling your eyes out. Loosen up, babe. Having a stick up your ass isn’t sexy.” 

Waverly smacked him, swift and hard. His nose bubbled with blood, a giant red imprint of her fist on his face causing a smug smile to spread across her face. It was short lived though. He whirled on his heels, screaming in her face as he pointed his finger in her face, trying to intimidate her. But Daddy was ten times worse than some boy-man could ever be, so Waverly just laughed. 

Champ left later that day. For good. 

  
  
  


The house was still the same. Nicole still kept the keys underneath the plant pots on the front porch, the welcome mat was still at the exact same angle. Several pairs of children's boots were in the shoe rack near the front door, varying in sizes, the twins shoes looking so very petite compared to her ex-wife’s combat boots. 

Waverly gave a watery smile as she saw their wedding photos still hanging up around the house, along with her collection of history books and artefacts that she’d left behind, all cleaned daily by the looks of it. A weak smile pulled at her lips at the thought that Nicole, despite being in immense pain, still took care of her prized possessions. 

The door opened behind her, followed by the sounds of children racing through the door and two adults chatting. Two little bodies flung themselves at Waverly, causing her to laugh joyfully as she wrapped her two daughters up in a giant hug. She had truly missed them since she hadn’t seen them since last weekend. 

“Mother,” Richard said, still standing in the doorway with a shell shocked Nicole. He gave her a tight-lipped smile. “It’s good to see you. It’s been a long time, to say the least. I can’t remember the last time you came to see me in person. Or Mama. Speaking of, you two should talk. I’ll take the kids upstairs to the play den.” 

William gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “It’s good to see you Mama. I missed you. But we’ll be upstairs playing monopoly if you and mummy want to come play with us.” 

The children dashed upstairs followed by a serious looking Richard, who instructed them to talk and not sit in awkward silence. For a few minutes, they did the exact opposite of his instructions. But of course it was awkward. They hadn’t spoken in five years! Five years! What on Earth were they supposed to say? 

“You look good,” Waverly blurted out, her cheeks turning a dark red at her confession. Nicole just stood there, her uniform as immaculate as ever. The brunette couldn’t tell if she was sad, angry, confused or simply didn’t care. “Look, Nicole, I’m sorry for barging in like this―” 

“I wish you’d barged in sooner,” Nicole said, interrupting her halfway through her sentence. The redhead placed her Stetson on the coffee table, gripping her belt as a touchstone as she walked closer to her ex-wife. “I miss you, Waverly. Besides, this is still your home. You can come here anytime you want to be here.” 

Waverly swallowed hard. “You deserve an explanation. So I’m going to give you one, even if it hurts you. The truth is, I’ve been dealing with a few mental health issues for a few years now. Before we got married, a week before the wedding, my mama came home. She said she’d heard her babygirl was to be wedded and she begged me to let her come to the ceremony. I was going to say yes, but then I realised why she was actually here. For a legal problem.” 

“A legal problem?” Nicole asked in confusion. Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Listen, babygirl, I know that today is a hard week for both of us, but I really don’t think blaming your mama is going to fix this divorce or whatever reason you’re here for. I’m not interested in your excuses, Waverly, or your lies. Go away if that’s all you can do.” 

“She came here looking for money!” Waverly interrupted, her voice rising in panic. “We went out drinking in Calgary, that place you took me to. But we went to a sketchier bar. She made me meet a bunch of these people, learn a bunch of names, memorize numbers. It’s all I dream about, those numbers. To this day, I have no idea why we were really there. But there was a man, Charlie. That’s what they called him. Mama said he was my real father.” 

“You mean….” 

“Yes, Wynonna and I are only half sisters. She knew all this time, and she never told me,” Waverly snapped, pacing back and forth by now. Nicole could only watch in confusion and growing frustration. “I know this has nothing to do with our marriage, but this Charlie, he introduced me to someone. Kevin, her name was. She ate pickles all the time and was just a really aloof person, you know? Anyway, one thing led to another and a year into our marriage, I came up with the money for Mama. But Kevin wanted more money.” 

Nicole’s jaw dropped. “You were taking money all those years!? Waverly, that’s just wrong! I could’ve helped you. I still don’t understand why you’re bringing this up now and how it has anything to do with the divorce!” 

“I joined a gang, okay?!” Waverly yelled, her eyes wild and watery. “I took money, I took little possessions from shops that could slowly cover my mother’s debts. But it wasn’t enough. Kevin, she...she made me dig up my Daddy’s grave. She made me pull him out of there and she made me steal his treasures, all which had previously been buried six feet under. So, yeah. I had a drinking problem when I had to do illegal things, endangering my children and my wife and lying to everybody. It became too much Nicole, and it just got worse when I accidentally got pregnant with Tucker’s baby.” 

“You...you cheated on me?” Nicole whispered, her voice cracking as tears cascaded down her cheeks. “How could you do that to me? I would have forgiven you for the gang, I would have only been mad that your mother put you in harm’s way. But cheating? That’s despicable.” 

“It was that or watching you all die,” Waverly whimpered, her head downcast. “I was so selfish, I know that. I hate myself. But they were going to hurt you and you would’ve played the hero and gotten shot, Nicole! So I’m sorry for loving you. Fuck, I hate myself. That’s why I filed for a divorce, because I was unfaithful and you deserve so much more.” 

Nicole stepped closer, prising the brunette’s hands away from where they’d been covering her face. The taller woman pulled her ex-wife into her arms as they sobbed together. Waverly could’ve sworn that she felt a kiss pressed to the crown of her head but pinned it down to her imagination until Nicole spoke again. 

“You are extraordinary,” the Sheriff mumbled through their shared pain. “Don’t ever hate yourself for protecting the people you love. But I can’t with good conscience say that I forgive you, when I know that it’s a lie.” 

Nicole walked away. 

Waverly cried, even though she had no right to. 


End file.
